..:First Adventure to Find the Perfect Wedding Dress For Me:..

Funny how the first thing I do for wedding planning is to go wedding dress shopping. It just so happened, my bridesmaid/MOH, Lia, is in town for the Christmas Holiday. So of course, it was fitting that we went dressing shopping. I went to two places, David's Bridal and The Wedding Chapel. Each place was a completely different experience in itself. 


Briefly, David's bridal was nice and brightly lite, but my consultant was inexperienced and she was juggling between me and another bride. That bride was placed right next to me, which I think is a no-no! That bride found herself comparing her dresses to mine. She was with her mother and grandmother, who was probably paying for her dress, because they are pretty demanding about what she tried on. She seemed pretty unhappy. I went through about 9 dresses for those 2.5 hours we were there while she was sulking in two dresses. I tried on the dresses I liked online.. which I still like, but without the constultant to tell me more about the dresses (or her professional opinion on how I looked), I felt a huge disconnect with her and with the dresses. A plus is they allow you to take pictures, which was nice. This way I can remember how I looked in the dresses!


The second place, the Wedding Chapel, was smaller. I was a overwhelmed from the large sizes I had to try on, but the consultant was great! She had already pulled a few dresses for me to try on based on what I said I liked. She was there to help me with the dresses in and out of the fitting room. Oh, Yes! The fitting room also had a mirror for me to look at myself before stepping out (David's Bridal did NOT). She was there to clip me and talked to me about the dress.  I absolutely loved the selection of dresses there alot more. A downfall is pictures are not allowed, so I only have faint memories of the dresses. I wish the fiance would have went with me to this place too; to give his opinion. 


BTW, I learned at the second shop that the David's Bridal consultant told me all the wrong information about the silhouettes; the empire waist was not what the dress turned out to be!


All in all, I am debating between two+ dresses at both places. I guess it's because it was my first time and I ended up liking alot of them. I can not say I love one yet. This "WOW" and "crying" factor that the show "Say Yes to the Dress" emphasizes did not exist for me. In fact, it's overrated and I guess every bride expects it to happen to them, due to the cultural effects of the show. No wonder some brides take months and have tried over 100+ dresses. Oh, I can believe it. I didn't want to stop trying them on. I wanted to stay forever and try them all on!


The big debate right now that I have is how much am I willing to spend on my dress. We are comfortable spending about $1500, which none of the dresses I tried were even close to that amount. I don't care for designer dresses. I care about the dress and how I look in it more. It's probably because I like all the dresses in about the same range, so it's either spend $500 ish or spend $900 ish. I guess it won't matter so much to me, if the prices were closer in range... but it's almost double! I knew that I wasn't going to buy it on the first day I went shopping, but I didn't think I would be so conflicted! Now, I can see why some brides buy more than one dress... Hmmmmm... :P


Yes,  I am going to sit-on it for a while and go again. Maybe next month! :)


Here are a couple of dresses I liked: 

I like the princess feeling of this dress.

I want LACE on my dress!

This one is modern and chic.

I love the details on this one.

It's true that I ended up liking what I didn't think I would like. I was surprised that I like ruffles, which is at the other shop. I also like the big dress, which I didn't think I would like. Right now it's between the trumpet and the natural wait silhouettes.  I really wish I had pictures from the other place also.. those two were gorgeous! I think I need to try it on with accessories and flowers. 


Big thanks to my Moma, Lia, Matha, Ka and Cindy for bearing with me from 10:30 am - 5pm!!! 


PLEASE LISTEN to this:
http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=138760908&m=139026716